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Utilization of diabetes medication and cost of testing supplies in Saskatchewan, 2001Abstract: Diabetes affects approximately 5% of all Canadians aged 20 years or older, with the prevalence rising with age [1] Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90% of the diagnosed cases of diabetes in Canada, while approximately 10% of diabetes cases are attributed to type 1 diabetes [1]. The National Diabetes Surveillance System (NDSS) monitors epidemiologic trends in diabetes in Canada and recently reported on the prevalence of the disease and mortality in individuals with diabetes [1]. It was estimated that approximately 5.2% of the non-First Nations Saskatchewan population over the age of 20 had diabetes (4.9% of females and 5.5% of males) [1]. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be associated with a substantial burden for individuals with the disease, their families and society as a whole.The total costs of diabetes to health care systems have been previously estimated for US and Canada [2,3] These previous estimates have been modeled using data from various sources. In order to better understand the magnitude of health care costs associated with the management of diabetes, administrative health care data from Saskatchewan have been used previously to estimate health care costs of a cohort of 45,716 individuals identified as having diabetes during 1991 to 1996 [4,5]. Costs for hospitalizations and day surgeries accounted for over 60% of health care expenditures, with prescription expenditures accounting for 20%, physician services accounting for 16%, and dialysis services accounting for 4% [4]. A large proportion of health care expenditures for people with diabetes is for macrovascular comorbidity [5]. We also noted that in 1996, diabetes testing supplies accounted for approximately 13% of the overall prescription expenditures for people with diabetes [6].Antidiabetic medications and diabetes testing supplies play an important part in the management of diabetes, but are associated with substantial and increasing costs for provincial health care programs [4,5,7]. The current c
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